Instant Pot Frito Chili Pie -- walking tacos -- is a super easy dinner made with ground beef chili, corn chips, cheese and your favorite toppings!
If you grew up eating Frito pie, Frito boat or walking taco over a bag of Frito corn chips, this easy pressure cooker recipe is for you! Just make the chili in the pressure cooker, serve it over Fritos corn chips, and then add cheese and taco toppings. Easy as pie!
Homemade chili is one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes because it's super quick and easy this way. Normally, we only eat chili when it's cold out, but when you use it as a topping over corn chips, you can have it pretty much year round.
I've seen walking tacos served at football games, Little League and tailgate parties. They're also perfect for camping, sleep overs, potlucks or whenever you need a quick and easy dinner!
How to Make Frito Chili Pie in the Pressure Cooker
Start out by making chili in the Instant Pot. I just take my mom's mild chili recipe, kick up the flavor and make it a little thicker so that it works better as a topping.
I use kidney beans in my chili, but if you like Frito pie without beans, you can leave them out. Or, you can use this easy recipe for ground beef taco meat instead of chili!
Add the tomato sauce last to prevent getting the dreaded burn notice from your pressure cooker. Then, pressure cook the chili for just 10 minutes.
I like to saute the chili for a little bit to help thicken it even more. Then, it's ready to go over the corn chips!
Walking Taco Toppings
To serve up the Frito pie, just add some corn chips to a bowl, and ladle some chili and shredded cheese over the chips. For a walking taco, cut open small bags of Fritos, and use those instead of bowls. You can also make a baked casserole by layering the ingredients in a casserole dish and baking it until hot and bubbly!
Top your chili pie with:
- Shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
- Sour cream
- Hot sauce or salsa
- Guacamole
- Chopped onions
- Jalapeno peppers
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Instant Pot Frito Chili Pie Recipe
Recipe
Instant Pot Frito Chili Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 medium bell pepper seeded and chopped
- ½ cup water
- 2 14- ounce cans kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- Frito corn chips
- Shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
Instructions
- Hit SAUTE on the Instant Pot, and when display reads HOT, add the olive oil and ground beef
- Break up beef with a spatula, and cook until no longer pink.
- Stir in salt, pepper, chili powder. smoked paprika and cumin
- Add onions and peppers, and stir until slightly soft, then hit CANCEL
- Add water, and stir to deglaze bottom of pot. Add kidney beans, diced tomatoes, then the tomato sauce, but do not stir
- Cover, turn vent to SEALING, and hit PRESSURE COOK, or manual, for 10 minutes. Pot will take a few minutes to reach pressure, then begin cooking
- When pot beeps, allow a natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then hit CANCEL, and quick release remaining pressure
- Optional -- Hit SAUTE and cook for about 5 minutes to thicken chili
- To serve, add some Fritos to individual bowls, then add the chili, shredded cheese and your favorite taco toppings
Notes
Nutrition information is estimated. Please do your own calculation to fit special diets.
Nutrition
I hope you enjoy this easy Frito pie as much as we do!
James says
Tried this over the weekend and it was a hit. Simple too!
Dee says
That's awesome, James! Thanks so much!
James says
This was great, made it last night for a quick dinner. We had everything available so no planning! Awesome!
Dee says
That's wonderful, James! It's really a very easy recipe. 🙂
Sara Welch says
I know what I am going to enjoy for dinner tonight! This looks amazing and so flavorful, too! Delish!
Beth Pierce says
This is everything a gourmet recipe should be, and then some! This looks amazing; can't wait to give this a try!
Jacquelyn Hastert says
I can't wait to make this in my IP! I absolutely love how quickly it comes together and my husband would love it.
Dee says
Thanks! My husband had seconds and almost thirds!
Lora says
This is total comfort food and so much fun for game nights!!
Dee says
It would be perfect for game nights!
Catalina says
This would be a new favorite in our house! Looks amazingly delicious!
Dee says
Thank you so much, Catalina! It's so good!
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert says
This looks absolutely delicious! Yummy!
Dee says
Thanks, Erin! We loved this one!
Dorothy Reinhold says
The Instant Pot is such a handy tool! This will be a tasty and quick dinner for my crew!